Why hope is important
Mary’s Meals serves daily school meals to over 3 million children worldwide. By providing vital food to those facing poverty and hunger, our programmes also offer hope for a better future. This Christmas, we need your help to reach every child waiting.
Every child has the right to a childhood free from poverty and hunger, where they can enjoy a daily meal and go to school. But sadly, in the countries where we work, climate shocks, conflict, and extreme poverty mean that hope is a distant reality for too many children.
Around the world, millions of children are still facing hunger. The food crisis affects both their present and their future. Many children suffer from malnutrition and stunted growth. Hunger can also force them out of education, either to find work to support their families or to act as a carer. And it can mean a future where they, and their community, are trapped in a cycle of poverty.
That is why Mary’s Meals is so important. Our daily meals give children hope and can be the only one a child will receive all day. They give them the strength to learn, to play, and to work towards a better future.
When a child knows they will eat at school, they are more likely to attend regularly. Regular meals at school also give hope to parents, with the assurance that their child will eat that day and grow in health and strength. And the school meals support communities, by building long-term educated populations.
The gift of a daily school meal
Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, Mary’s Meals Founder and CEO, says: “We are at this exciting time of year when we get ready to celebrate the birth of hope. It resonates so deeply with what Mary’s Meals is all about, that provision of hope to children living in the world’s poorest communities; children who are otherwise facing hunger; children facing the fact that they are missing school; children whose futures have been robbed from them.
“Through this simple gift of a daily meal in school, we are restoring that hope. We see it over and over again, how hope is born anew when Mary’s Meals begins in a new community.
“I invite you to give hope this Christmas, to not forget those children who are often without a voice, and to remember that we all have the possibility to do something for them.”
We need your support this Christmas to give hope to children and communities who need it most. Our work is made possible by the generosity of people like you. Your donation will help us to reach more children who need life-changing meals.
For less than £20 this Christmas, you can give a child the gift of daily meals for an entire school year. It’s more than just a donation – it’s a promise that a child can eat every day in school for an entire school year, giving them, their families, and their community hope of a brighter future.